Texans need to outbid the Patriots for Trent Williams

The Texans and Patriots are both interested in making a trade with the Redskins to acquire Trent Williams. Houston can’t afford to lose out to New England. 

Deshaun Watson has spent too much of his NFL career running for his life. If the Texans want to change that in 2019, they need to add some real talent to their offensive line. Swinging a deal with the Redskins to bring left tackle Trent Williams to Houston would be a big time move for Bill O’Brien and company.

Unfortunately, the Texans aren’t the only franchise interested in the Washington holdout. O’Brien’s old team, the Patriots, are also being linked with a trade to solidify the left side of their line. Protecting Tom Brady is always a priority for Bill Belichick and his staff.

The Redskins continue to make public statements about their desire to bring Williams back into the fold. His presence at left tackle would certainly help ease Dwayne Haskins’ transition to professional football. On the other hand, signing Donald Penn this week makes it pretty obvious that Washington officials aren’t overly convinced that Williams will be reporting anytime soon.

That means it’s very likely that a bidding war of sorts will emerge for his services. Talented left tackles who are still in the relative prime of their careers don’t come available very often. At 31 years of age Williams doesn’t have a ton of prime years left, but he should maintain his status as an above average left tackle for a few more seasons. His age, talent and experience make him a sought after commodity for numerous teams.

The Patriots and Texans could both slot him in as a starter in 2019. There’s no question which franchise has the bigger need though. New England has former first round pick Isaiah Wynn slotted in as their starter at the moment. He doesn’t have Williams’ experience, but he may have a brighter future. New England would love to bring in Williams to ease Wynn’s transition into the starting lineup, but there’s a lot of optimism about Wynn’s future in Foxborough.

The situation at left tackle in Houston is much more unsettled. Julie’n Davenport is currently listed as the team’s starter, but he’s a stopgap at best. Uncertainty regarding his ability to protect Watson caused the Texans to sign Matt Kalil in free agency. Kalil was a massive free agency bust with the Panthers. Carolina officials were happy to discard him for nothing earlier in the offseason. That shows just how desperate Houston officials are to find talent at the offensive line’s most important position.

To put it mildly, it’s imperative that the Texans outbid the Patriots and all other comers for Williams’ services. This is a team with a lot of high-end talent on the offensive side of the ball. The only thing standing in the way of the Texans being one of the top five offenses in the NFL this season is their inability to consistently protect Watson. Acquiring Williams wouldn’t cure everything that ails the Houston front, but he’d give the group a massive talent upgrade. The Texans need to do what it takes to get this deal done while they still can.